Sullivan, Mota Lead FredNats to 5-2 Win over Fayetteville
July 24, 2025 - Carolina League (CarL)
Fredericksburg Nationals News Release
FREDERICKSBURG, VA - The Fredericksburg Nationals (15-10, 45-45) got eight strikeouts from Liam Sullivan and a late, heroic hit from Jorgelys Mota in a 5-2 win against the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (12-14, 48-44) on Thursday at Virginia Credit Union Stadium.
Sullivan's return to the mound in Fredericksburg was triumphant on its own. The left-handed starter was limited to just two starts last year before undergoing season-ending elbow surgery. After 15 months of recovery, Sullivan took the hill looking to pick up right where he left off. He got off to an up-and-down start, striking out the side in the first inning, but allowing a run on back-to-back hits with two outs.
Heading into the bottom of the first down 1-0, the FredNat offense needed a spark after a shutout loss Wednesday. It got one from its catcher, Nate Rombach, who rifled a single into left field with two outs that scored Cristhian Vaquero and tied the game.
Both teams traded solo runs again in the third inning, as Sullivan ratcheted his strikeout total even higher. In the fourth, tied 2-2, Sullivan punched out his eighth Woodpecker and Rombach completed the double play by throwing out Fayetteville's Waner Luciano trying to steal third base. In his long-awaited return, Sullivan allowed two runs in four innings of work, striking out eight without a walk.
In the seventh inning, the FredNats finally broke through for their first lead of the night. Against Fayetteville's Francisco Frias, Vaquero and Elijah Green got on base with one out for Jorgelys Mota, Fredericksburg's three-hole hitter. In a tense 3-2 count, Mota demolished a high line drive off of the right field wall that plated Vaquero and would have been an RBI double. It proved to be so much more when the second baseman Hector Salas made an ill-advised throw trying to backpick Mota at second and sailed it down the left field line. Mota sprang to his feet and sprinted in to score behind Green with a little-league inside-the-park home run that made it 5-2.
From there, Johan Otanez picked up six quick outs for his second career save and secured the FredNats' first win of the series. In the end, Merritt Beeker (3-2) got the win with three relief innings, as Frias (2-6) was tagged with the loss. The FredNats will look to win back-to-back games to even up the series on Friday, sending Luke Johnson to the mound in a 7:00 start.
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